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The chain was walking through the forest when a goose walked onto the path in front of them.
“Honk!” said the goose.
The heroes blinked at the goose. The goose blinked back.
“Honk!,” said the goose again.
“Huh,” said Twilight. “Anyone got an idea on why a goose with a bow about its neck is here?”
“Maybe it’s a pet?” Four asked hesitantly.
“We should definitely return him, then,” Sky said.
“I’m not so sure about that,” Wind said. “It’s very big. What if it tries to eat us, or carry us away?”
The goose looked straight at Wind, who nervously stepped back. “Honk!” said the goose, threateningly. Wind gulped.
“Relax, sailer. It’s just a little goose,” Twilight said teasingly. Wind glared at him.
“Yeah! He reminds me of Crimson.” Sky walked closer to the goose, who stayed calm the entire time. When Sky moved to pet the goose, the goose pressed up against his hand. “See? He’s friendly.”
Sky picked up the goose, which settled against him comfortably.
Wind decided that he’d imagined the hostility from the giant bird and moved closer to pet it. As soon as he got close, the goose’s head swiveled to stare at him with barely-disguised malice.
Wind squeaked and ran to hide behind Warriors, who chuckled and patted him condescendingly on the shoulder. “Aw, don’t worry, Wind. I’ll protect you.”
A few of the others chuckled, but Wind merely scowled at the teasing. He wasn’t going to remain within the eyeline of the bird if he could help it, not even if the others teased him for being a baby about it. He knew he hadn’t imagined that look, but apparently the others wouldn’t believe him.
Sky carried the goose with the group as they traveled, even holding onto it while they fought off monsters. Wind tried multiple times to get the others to notice the blatant evilness of the goose - even if they wouldn’t believe him, surely they couldn’t ignore what they saw with their own eyes - but no one would take him seriously.
Wind had thought that being the youngest was frustrating before, with them not trusting him to be able to fight well, but this was ridiculous!
As evening fell and they set up camp, Wind tried one last ditch effort to get rid of the goose and joked to Wild that they could eat it. The cook looked horrified at the comment, and Wind’s stomach sank. He played it off as a bad joke, but he couldn’t help but think the goose was cursing them. Somehow, the goose had earned the rest of the group’s trust and simultaneously gotten rid of any WInd’d had.
The others settled down to sleep, but WInd couldn’t. He set up his bedroll like normal, because the older members of the group would yell at him if he didn’t at least pretend he planned on going to sleep at some point that night, and prepared for a long night watching and waiting for the goose to make its move.
The goose settled down right next to Sky and then stared at Wind more hatefully than even Ganon had managed. Wind shivered in fear.
Thankfully, the goose finally closed its eyes and pretended to sleep. Twilight’s watch passed uneventfully.
Time, on second watch, came over to sit by Wind. “Everything okay, WInd? Are you gonna get some sleep soon?”
Wind continued staring at where the evil monster masquerading as a bird pretended to sleep, and he shook his head. There was no way he was falling asleep with that thing here.
Time sighed but could clearly tell there wasn’t anything he could do to change WInd’s mind. He spent most of his watch sitting with Wind, keeping him company against the fearful bird.
By the time Sky woke up for the third watch, Wind was having trouble staying awake. He kept drifting and then jolting awake. The times between waking periods got longer and longer.
Finally, Wind’s eyes closed for good.
---
The next morning, the chain awoke to find that Sky had fallen asleep during his watch.
Most of the group’s things had been tossed into a nearby lake. Unfortunately for Wind, that included him, and he woke up to his sleeping bag floating over the water.
It was a very wet morning for everyone as they retrieved their things, and also Wind, from the lake.
As they tried to dry everything off, they wondered who had done this. Who had snuck into their camp into the middle of the night just to throw everything they owned into the lake? Surely it couldn’t be a monster; those usually just wanted to eat them.
An ominous voice from the shadows said, “Honk!”